Lesotho

The Challenge

Lesotho has scarce resources and limited agricultural space, as most the country consists of harsh highlands. As a result it has traditionally been dependent on South Africa, with men living away from home to work in its mines.

However, employment opportunities have dwindled in recent years, and our challenge is therefore to bring men, women and entire communities back together – where, as farmers, they can discover their effectiveness and build new markets.

The Approach

Parts of Lesotho are now dotted with keyhole gardens – the pioneering vegetable-growing method that we introduced to Lesotho. These gardens produce food throughout the extreme heat of summer and cold of winter, so families can eat better and earn an income.

And while sustainable farming is our focus in the country, we also provide some poultry, rabbits and goats. Milk from dairy goats is considered particularly healthy for those with HIV/AIDS – around a quarter of Lesotho’s adult population.

Lesotho faces the environmental challenge of regular rains and hailstorms, which can wash the country’s fragile soils down hillsides in hours. Send a Cow combats this by providing hailnets to protect vegetable gardens, by terracing sloping land, and by planting trees – the roots of which bind soil together.

The Impact

Send a Cow is now helping over 3,000 households to create sustainable food and local markets in Lesotho, and your support means that the work there can extend far beyond food security too.

One effect of such high HIV/AIDS rates is that many children are orphaned here. In partnership with the charity SOS Villages, we work with a group of orphans and vulnerable children, helping to give them a better start in life.

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Through our award winning Lessons From Africa website, engaging and relevant fundraising initiatives, experiential African Garden Days programme and top quality support - we will help you to bring Africa to life in your classroom.

Half of the world's hungry people are farming families. In Africa 70% rely on their land to feed their families and make a living. Yet climate change means harvests are less reliable. Rains fail. Land is less productive. Disease and conflict further undermine the very fabric of African communities and a family’s ability to grow enough food to survive. It doesn’t have to happen.

Send a Cow is not like other development organisations. We are farmers working with farmers and speaking their language. We know what it takes to make a living from the land; it can only happen if communities are united and farmers have self-belief. We train people to make a living from the soil beneath them. After 25 years of working with African farmers, we simply know what works.

By giving to Send a Cow, you are showing you want families to be lifted out of poverty for good, not just for a few years. Your contribution will help build a confident and thriving rural Africa: village by village, region by region, country by country, creating permanent change. People are happier, families more harmonious and children educated. Communities are thriving